Core sector growth improves to 3.8% in May

30 Jun 2012 Evaluate

The eight core infrastructure sector registered a growth of 3.8 percent in May against a mere growth of 2.2 percent in the previous month and 5.8 percent in May 2011. The eight core sectors are coal, crude oil, natural gas, fertilizers, petroleum refinery products, electricity, cement and finished steel, and carry a total of 37.9 percent weight in the index of industrial production (IIP). On the other hand, cumulative growth of infrastructure industries slowed from 5 percent during April-May 2011 down to 3.4 percent in this year at the same time.

As per the data report released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the major pull-back was seen in natural gas production and fertilizer production which contracted by 10.8 percent and 15.1 percent in May 2012. Further, crude oil production registered a decline of 0.5 percent in May compared to its growth of 9.8 percent in May 2011. Petroleum refinery, steel production and electricity generation also dipped to 2.9 percent, 4.9 percent and 5.2 percent, in May, respectively.

On the other hand, coal production registered a growth of 8 percent in May compared to its growth at 1.3 percent in the same period of 2011. Cement production also registered a growth of 11.3 percent in May against a contraction of 1.2 percent in May previous year.

With slight improvement in the core sector numbers, it is likely to have a positive impact on the IIP number in May, which registered a stagnant growth of 0.1 percent in April, indicating further weakness in the economy. The slowdown is mainly on the back of global woes and domestic problems, the economic growth rate also slowed to 9-year low, both in the March quarter at 5.3 percent and for 2011-12 fiscal at 6.5 percent.

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